Ladakh In Jan-Feb

santoshdts

Hi,

Is it feaseble to make a trip to Leh-Ladhakh in the month of Jan-Feb?
Weather conditions, Tranportaion(By Road or By Air) and acomodation. Please any seniors in that region with details,

Please reply

regards

Santosh

shahronakm

Leh - Ladakh in Jan - Feb is possible only by Air as the roads are closed. It will be freezing cold at that time. There are chanches that flights get cancelled due to bad weather. Accomodations will be available but not all the hotels would be operational. A centrally heated hotel would ideal to stay during this times. Also many of the roads leading to sight seeing places from Leh would be blocked due to snow fall.

Ronak.

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Yogesh Sarkar

If you want to see lots and lots of snow and feel sub zero degree cold, that’s the time to head to Ladakh and quite a few do. Like Ronak said, not many roads are operational and flights get cancelled/delayed, but that has its own charm. I have been planning since a long time to do this myself, but sadly it hasn’t yet materialized.

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shahronakm

Yogesh, I did visit Ladakh finally this August (after two years of cancellations) & found it awesome. You were my inspritation & sorry about informing you so late.

Even I have a wish to visit Ladakh during Jan / Feb. & I enquired a lot when I was in Leh about the road / weather / accomodation during winters. But i know it won't happen in near future at least not in this season.

But Yogesh for visiting Ladakh in winter months you will have to leave your better half (I mean your bike) at home. Are you O.K. with it ? I mean it will be a big separation for you.

Ronak.

vistet

I stayed January and February many many years ago , and experienced very little snow along the Indus etc. Some icy patches on the road to Lamayuru was the most dramatic obstacles. Buses were running too , only less frequently.Hemis ,Alchi , Shey etc.. no problems . We were encircled by snow , but saw very little of it. Most Ladakhis had very little hands on experience of snow , something that became very apparent when they saw my photos of winter treks in Sweden : the idea of building with snow was pure science fiction to them.

I was going thru news stories earlier in the week , one of them mentioned and marvelled over the fact that the Zoji La had received some feet of snow , but nothing beyond that ,in the colder regions. This is pretty much what we expect here back home : snow is a warm weather phenomenom. (OK , maybe not the Indian definition of warm , everything is relative. )

(And yes , there is a lot more snow in Lahaul and west , towards Srinagar. Both roads closed a couple of days ago. )

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Yogesh Sarkar

Congrats, where are the pics?

Planning to cheat my sweetheart and have a affair there for a while with a 180 or 150 which should be easily available . Should be fun for at least a day or two to ride in such a cold environment.

shahronakm

Thanks Yogesh. Pice are yet to be uploaded. Will do it in coming days.

Riding in such cold environment will be a different experience. Hope you can make it this season.

Ronak.

abhi182

I did a trip to Leh last December (mid Dec which is substantially warmer than late dec/Jan)and did the usual outings to Pangong and Lamayuru ..couldn't unfortunately make it to Nubra as the army folks on top of Khardung La advised us against it (It was expected to snow heavily on khardung La that night and we would have been stuck for a couple of days in Nubra if we had gone ahead)

The place is starkingly beautiful (and thats an understatement, esp. for pangong) in the winters (edit: here are some pics

having said that, I really wouldn't recommend going around on a bike in the winters... On a bunch of occasions, we spotted bottled water freezing over inside a qualis with the heat on at full blast esp at the higher altitudes

Oh, and having stopped for a Chai at an army outpost on the way down from Chang-La, I left my watch rated upto -25 C outside to gauge the temp and to my dismay, discovered it to be dead when I came out after 15 mins (though it thankfully woke up after a while when it warmed up)

So am guessing the windchill on a bike with temperatures that low aren't safe to say the least

after all it's one thing to be a bit reckless when seeking adventure, but going crazy while seeking those elusive travel thrills can sometimes be dangerous

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torrentbhai

i,too,am interested in going to ladakh during february ( group of four infact ) trip involving zanskar, kargil, pangong and nubra
would like to know:
what roads would be open/closed ?
availability of transportation ?
availability of hotels and food ?
winter gear required ?

MarcoVASRA

Only Kargil - Leh - Changtang road is open in winter. You must ply. Some busses run up and down.
No hotel opened. I use the Basic Bimla guest house and the centralised heated Panorama (th only one in Ladakh).

mridula

You guys are giving me ideas! I have been to Ladakh in June but Ladakh in Jan-Feb? Now that is something to think about!!!!!!!!!

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MarcoVASRA

I spent some week for 3 winters in Ladakh and I leave on 21th to Leh. It's cold and I suppose you want drive your motor bike, it's a challenge.

vistet

Todays weather (from leh.nic.in ) : night temperatures -21 C.

Mosquito free , as the saying goes here .

mridula

-21 is something I have never experienced and I find it cold even at 7, so the mind boggles at the idea of -21.

vistet

When it gets really cold (around -30 ) you can do the spit test : spit freezes midair and bounces. Probably needs a bit lower temperature in Ladakh´s thin air. And lack of manners.